Focusing on one of the biggest challenges facing our community – healthcare – the faith community along with university partners, have joined forces to host a summit next month focusing on the impact of these challenges on the community.

The Faith Community Healthcare Summit, scheduled for November 14, 2013 at 7:45 am, Greensboro, NC will bring together a host of experts who will discuss the challenges associated with healthcare in the Greater Greensboro community. What do they need to know? What can the community do to face healthcare issues head on?

UNC-Greensboro’s School of Health and Human Sciences (HHS) is framing the educational component of the summit. The day will be filled with education, bringing the people together who are interested in collaborating to help the poor, the faith community, and the education community.

The summit, which will take place at Mount Zion Baptist Church, 1301 Alamance Church Road, Greensboro, NC 27406, will host members from academia, industry, hospitals, and more. Attendees will work together with community members to develop potential solutions and engage in dialogue.

Pastor, Odell Cleveland has to say about the summit, “Bringing the faith community together with practitioners in the medical field to engage in open dialogue is a unique opportunity to have those conversations that are much needed about healthcare. Dialogue – that’s what this summit is all about; finding solutions and setting us all on the right path as a community.”

Jefferson Pilot Excellence Professor at UNC-Greensboro, Bob Wineburg, PhD, says this of the summit, “The Faith Community Health Summit is an effort to bring people from the medical, faith and educational systems closer together in a day of learning about how all can support better health for the entire community.”

Professor Vincent Francisco, PhD, UNC-Greensboro and the Editor of the Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice says, “The Healthcare Faith Summit is the most important conversation about future of the community’s health this year. Everyone in the community has a part to play in our health, and this Summit will determine the next steps for us all.”

Featured Sessions will cover various topics including:
• Session I: State of the Community’s Health — Review of community health data and how it can be improved.
• Session II: Model Congregational Programs – Faith based programs that are leading the way.
• Session III: The Affordable Care Act — – Making sense of the changing

At the conclusion of the summit, the audience will set priorities and develop action plans in a facilitated session.

For details about the summit and a complete list of sessions, including how to register, click here.

Faith Community Summit Values Statement: We all believe that three disconnected systems can be connected to bring about better health for the poor. We as a school devoted to health and human science and community engagement are positioned to bring these systems together. Mount Zion as a church dedicated to serving the least of these through faith and faith-works can partner with HHS to connect these systems.